Molly McGee's Powerful Hanukkah Episode

 



Put on your yarmulke
Here comes Hanukkah
So much funukkah
To celebrate Hanukkah!

Even though I'm a goy, I enjoy learning about Jewish traditions, and Hanukkah cartoon episodes in particular taught me a lot as a youngster.

Yesterday, The Ghost and Molly McGee, a great show you should watch, premiered a special Hanukkah episode, "Festival of Lights". As tonight is the first night of Hanukkah, consider this editorial my Hanukkah present to my Jewish readers, subscribers, friends and followers.

SPOILERS AHOY!

As Libby has now found out about Scratch's existence, she invites the McGees and Scratch to celebrate Hanukkah with her and her mom in their family bookstore. There's a power outage in town, but luckily the bookstore has a generator.

Molly and her family learn all about Hanukkah traditions, such as playing dreidel and eating latkes. Scratch in particular adores fried food. This is pretty basic stuff, but the way it's presented is so entertaining, like the dramatic dreidel game.

Despite all the fun and games, there's also a powerful scene towards the end. A patron of the bookstore takes note of the menorah, which Libby's mom explains has been passed down in the family for generations. In particular, it's the only heirloom that Libby's great-grandparents saved during Kristallnacht. That's right, they showed the night of broken glass. This is also probably the first time I've seen a kids' show address Kristallnacht.

The purpose of the scene isn't shock value, but it's to show that despite the persecution of Jewish people, they managed to keep their traditions alive. And for more symbolism; the bookstore stays lit for eight hours; mirroring how the menorah stayed lit in the temple for eight days in the Hanukkah story.

I think this episode is on the fast track to beating the Rugrats special as my favorite Hanukkah episode of any cartoon, and that's saying a lot. It manages to pack so much emotion, such as laughter, fear, and warm fuzziness into 11 minutes. This episode has no conflict, but this works in its favor as a fun Hanukkah appreciation special.

Happy Hanukkah!

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